The Forest
by The Forest Moon
Summary: Naruto always thought that the Forest of Death was the scariest place on Earth. He thought wrong. His mission now was simple, find out what's going on, look for any survivors, and most important of all, stay alive. Easier said than done since not all things are human within the forest.
1. Awakenings

**I own nothing from Naruto**

 **6/10: Hey. So this is my first attempt at Naruto fanfiction so um, yeah. Any positive reviews would be nice. Some constructive criticism will be appreciated too. If you don't like it, don't read it, simple. Also there will be a harem and any other pairings are still in the works. Anyways, enjoy.**

 **6/18: Hey again. Instead of doing a new chapter I updated the first chapter. I did this as a reviewer did mention I should make these chapters longer. I planned on using the new material her but felt as though it would be shorter than the first. So I just added the two and got this. Please enjoy. One more thing...I will have the next chapter up by Sunday. Till then, see ya and enjoy.**

 **Genres: Adventure, Mystery, Horror, Romance**

 **To my friend, who never gave up on me finding a plot.**

* * *

Death was in the air. The musky smell, the hot temperature, and the feeling of dread spelled out death perfectly. Any ninja knew that this feeling meant to get the hell out of the area and hide. Despite the constant insults, Naruto Uzumaki was smart enough to know this basic instinct of all ninjas. However, his eyes did not want for this to happen just yet. They wanted him to stay in the blissful embrace of darkness. Of course Naruto would not have that and used his willpower to open his eyes and take in the natural darkness surrounding him.

"Ugh...what the hell did I eat? Wait...where the hell am I?! And why is everything upside down?!" The blonde teen screamed as he frantically looked around. Trees surrounded him, ranging from brown to reddish brown and to even black, a very odd color for a tree. "Am I in some sort of forest?" He asked himself and looked up, (or down in his case) and paled. Below him, over 100 meters below laid a large lake. Even Naruto knew that no ninja could survive a fall of that height. He looked back up and saw that his left foot was trapped in thorns.

 **"About damn time you woke up."** A deep and gravely voice spoke seemingly out of nowhere. A voice that could only belong to the Kyūbi.

"Kyūbi?! Where the hell am I?" Naruto quickly asked in hope that his roommate had the answers.

 **"I was hoping you would know. I have no idea where we are."** The fox answered worryingly.

"What the fuck?! What do you mean you don't know?! Aren't you able to see what I see?!" The teen quickly yelled in anger as he thrashed about in the air.

 **"I was sleeping dammit!"** The fox growled at his jailer but soon calmed itself, knowing arguing would not get them anywhere. **"Naruto, listen. All I know is that we need to get out of this situation right now or risk falling to our deaths."**

"For once I agree with you." Naruto nodded. "Alright all I have to do is cut these pesky thorns-"

 **CRACK!**

Naruto gulped and looked at the branch and nearly died from the sight of it alone. A small crack appeared and seemed to be expanding. "Um..."

 **"Shit! Hurry up and get out!"** The fox yelled at its container.

The teen ninja nodded and reached for a kunai in his pouch. Managing to find one, he quickly lunged forward to try and slice away the thorns to get out alive. Sadly, he did not take in the account that lunging forward caused his foot to be pierced by the razor sharped thorns. Naruto yelled from the sudden pain and accidentally dropped his kunai into the dark lake below. "Shit!"

The teen struggled to get free by slicing again with another kunai. Knowing that it was pointless from the dense thorns and the cracking getting louder, he opted to try and push himself out with his other foot. Once again, this caused the thorns to scratch his leg and make the blonde scream in agony. He could feel his warm blood oozing up his leg as the cracking got louder and louder.

Soon, the cracking stopped as there was no more branch to crack.

The warm air felt cool as the ninja descended into a dangerous free fall. He needed something, anything to help him live through this. He tried gathering chakra to his hands in hopes of pushing out some sort of wind jutsu but got something else entirely. Instead of air a chain with a kunai attached to the end came out of his left hand. The chain shot out at incredible speeds and attached itself in a nearby tree. Naruto screamed as brought towards the tree and with no way of stopping, had to take a tree to the face.

"Fuck...that hurts..." The ninja mumbled as he went for another kunai to cut off the thorns that were still attached to his leg. After many minutes of painful agony, he finally cut himself loose and watched as branch fell into the lake.

 **"Chakra chains?"** Kyūbi asked in disbelief.

"You know what this is?" The teen asked curiously as he observed the chain that came out of his palm.

 **"Yeah. I'll tell you later. For now we need to get somewhere safe."** It spoke to which Naruto nodded.

"Okay but...do you happen to know how these things retract?" Naruto asked in nervous laughter.

 **XxX**

Hinata Hyūga sobbed softly into her delicate hands as she leaned against a tree. A few minutes prior she had woken up and found herself alone in the middle of this dark forest. She cursed herself for crying but she couldn't help it. She thought of what may have happened to Naruto. _"No...stop this. Naruto wouldn't want to see you cry. Be strong."_ She mentally told herself and dried away her tears off of her cream colored jacket. She was getting up to leave when she realized she had company.

Out of fear, she slowly turned her head to meet face-to-face with a bat. Except this bat was nothing like any normal bat. The bat easily towered over her at 20 feet tall, its teeth were rough and broken off in many places, and its fur was stained red from the blood of its previous meal.

Given the circumstances, it was completely normal for one to piss themselves in front of this horrific creature.

Hinata slowly backed up a few steps before immediately jumping from tree branch to tree branch as fast as she could. The bat let loose an ear-bleeding shriek as it took off after its next victim. The girl panted as she tried to outrun the bat that was coming in close on her. "Ah!" She screamed as a sudden jolt of pain in her ankle made her fall and land on a branch below. "Ow..." She groaned as she looked over her foot. That only lasted a second as her white eyes widen as the bat landed in front of her. She whimpered and scooted back until she felt the tree stop her.

 _"It's over..."_ She thought as she closed her eyes and allowed tears to fall. _"I'm going to die...I just wanted to see him one more time..."_

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Hinata opened her eyes to see the bat get pined to a tree by its wings thanks to two kunai. The beast yelled out in pain before a chain went through its throat, silencing it for good. The girl watched as the chain retracted back into the one person who her mind was on just a second ago. Naruto. "Hey Hinata." He smiled warmly and waved at her.

"Naruto!" She smiled and quickly tried to get up but fell down in pain from her leg.

"Hinata!" The blonde quickly rushed to her side. "Are you okay?"

"Y..yeah...I think I sprained my ankle..." She admitted shyly.

"Crap...I don't know any medical jutsu..." Naruto said sadly.

"D...don't worry about it. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" He lied. The thorns from his wake up situation made his leg hurt like hell, but he needed to hide that. He needed to be strong for Hinata's sake. "Do you know what the hell is going on?" He asked her.

The chūnin nodded her head slowly. "Y...yes. Were were sent on a mission by Tsunade-sama..."

 **XxX**

 _"Okay. Anko, Shizune, Hinata, and Naruto. You four are needed for a special mission." Tsunade stated as she looked over the file that was brought to her from the day before._

 _"Sweet! What mission is it?" Naruto asked with excitement in his voice._

 _"I hope the pay is good. Money for rent and dango." Anko drooled in thought of having her sweet dumplings, making the other three women look at her like a crazy lady, which she sort of was._

 _"Uh, Lady Tsunade, what is this mission if it requires me to go with them?" Shizune asked the hokage._

 _"It's an S-rank mission." Was all she said as it made all of those in the room wide-eyed. "About a month ago, we've gotten reports of a forest emerging near the eastern coast of the Land of Fire. We already sent teams to investigate, but no one has returned." She said darkly. "From more recent reports, we now know that the forest is expanding, and at an alarming rate. Your mission is to figure out what's happening, rescue any survivors, and if necessary, stop whatever is causing the forest to grow."_

 _"Um, Granny?" Naruto spoke up once more._

 _"What?"_

 _"Yeah uh, why are we a team?"_

 _"Good question. Mitarashi is the best damn survivalist the Leaf has." The woman answered and pointed the pony tailed woman in front of her._

 _"Damn straight. I consider the forests my home away from home." She smiled cheekily._

 _"So she knows all about what lives in forests as well as poisons and antidotes. She will make sure you guys live." The hokage then turned to her assistant. "Shizune is one of the best medics in the world. Since Sakura is on another mission with Sai and Yamato, she'll be the one patching you guys up."_

 _"I...I'm here because of my Byakugan right?" Hinata asked timidly._

 _"Smart girl." Tsunade smiled and then turned to Naruto. "And finally you. You have your Shadow_ _Doppelgängers_ _for manpower and recon. A perfect team of four if I do say so myself. Do accept?"_

 _"You can count on me Granny!"_

 _"Hell yeah!"_

 _"Y-Yes Lady Tsunade!"_

 _"I accept."_

 _The hokage was pleased with all the answers and smiled. "Come back alive."_

 **XxX**

"Wow." Naruto said as Hinata finished her story. "What happened next?"

"I...I don't know. The last thing I remember is us traveling the Hidden Leaf Forest and then everything else is a blur..." She answered with a frown.

"Damn...oh well. We have to find Shizune and the Crazy Snake Lady before we do anything else! For now...we need to rest." He said and took a seat next to Hinata whose cheeks turned redder than blood. "Hey...do you smell pee?"

She fainted from embarrassment.

 **"...You do know that she likes you right. Please tell me you do."** The fox surprisingly begged, stunning Naruto like never before.

"Yeah I know..." The teen sighed and slumped his head forward. "I just have no idea on what to do. I mean yeah I like her but..."

 **"You're not sure that you love her?"**

"Yeah..."

 **"I see. Try and to think about you and her together instead of that pink-haired demon. And I thought I was cruel..."** The Kyūbi muttered as it retreated back into the depths of its cage and left Naruto to experiment with his chains.

 **XxX**

Shizune looked around frantically, a normal gesture she does just about everyday. Being the Hokage's assistant would normally cause such behavior but not this time. No, this time it was because the kunoichi woke up on a rotting log on the forest below with the bleak moonlight shinning on her.

"W...Where am I?! Where is everyone?!" The woman gasped loudly as she immediately got onto her legs, which made her stumble a bit as her feet were asleep. "Okay...I remember Lady Tsunade assigning me to a mission with Anko, Hinata, and Naruto...and that's it." The raven haired woman sighed in defeat of trying to regain the knowledge of what happened. Never the less, she would try to find out.

The next thing she did was check herself for any injury or stolen items. She smiled when she saw the green of her Jōnin vest and felt the contents within the pockets. What she did right after was check her right arm to see her wrist device and poisoned senbons. As luck would have it, they were also with her.

"That's good...I have all the stuff I had on me...I think. No matter, I need to see if I can find Naruto and the others." She told herself and journeyed off into the unknown environment before her. This would prove difficult as the forest floor was not the nicest of places to walk. Mud, brambles, and an occasional rock seemed as if they were trying to keep the woman back, out of hardships or warning was unknown.

What was known however that the lower part of her kimono as well as her legs were torn and ripped. The kunoichi could not believe how damaging the thorns were until she sat down on the ground. Her eyes widen as she thought of the worse. She quickly pulled out her handbook on poison and darkly chuckle. "Of course I get trapped in a forest with the Poizunsōn...a thorn bush which its thorns produce a poison that weakens the flesh and strength of whatever touched it in a two foot radius. I don't have the antidote...but I suppose I can just wait it out since it does go away after a while...or so I hope." She sighed and looked up into the forested covered night. "But...I thought those only grow in Suna. Why would they-?"

She was brought out of her question when the woman saw something move between the bushes. Shizune quickly got a kunai and braced herself for what was to come. The rustling of the bushes in front of her made her tighten her hold on the blade. Louder and louder the rustling got as it slowly inched it's way to the woman. She expected anything. A rabbit, a dog, a boar, a summon, anything.

What she did not expect however was a lizard with bladed hands to jump out and land on her face. The woman yelled in pure pain as she felt the claws of this reptile dig into her. She could feel one blade touch her cheekbone and tightly held onto the lizard. Mustering all her willpower to not scream and loosen her grip, she managed to pull out the lizard and throw it on the ground with a bounce. It tried crawling off but was met with instant death from a kunai.

Shizune glanced her eyes down and saw many river of blood pour from her once pure face. She quickly preformed the hand seals for the Mystical Palm Technique and placed her now green covered hands over the wounds. She winched a bit from the stinging but she held her ground as she knew the end result would all be worth it.

It was a shame that she didn't notice that the rustling was not from the lizard, but something different all together. When she removed her hands from her face, she only had a millisecond, not fast enough unfortunately. The kunoichi groaned as she opened one eye to look at her assailant, an action which she regretted. For a praying mantis about the size of her loomed over with it's gloomy black eyes, its frail yet sturdy frame, and one of the bladed arms dripping with her warm blood. A sight which would hunt her dreams for many to come, that is if she lived.

After a second of calming down she pointed her arm outward horizontally and moved her sleeve to let loose a fury of poisoned senbon, hoping that the toxic would kill the bug. Out of five shots, one did damage as the other for did not effect the hard frame. That single senbon launched into the neck and allowed it to make a gargled death scream as it choked on its own blood. The mantis fell to the side, close to where Shizune laid. She tried to roll away but the pain caused her to fall back to her original position and breath heavily. A sudden but quiet gasp escaped her tiny mouth as she heard even more ruffling in the bushes. She closed her eyes and prayed for life.

 **XxX**

"I didn't known you could use chains..." Hinata commented with her redden face as she held onto the back of Naruto who was using his chains to swing around the forest air. She had finally woke up and was secretly happy that the wet area had dried and she managed to hide the smell. The other thing was that she was holding onto her precious Naruto as he carried her while waiting for her ankle to heal.

"Neither did I until I was falling from 100 meter fall." He answered truthfully as he smiled at his skill with the chains. It was remarkably easy to learn how to control them in the short time Hinata was sleeping. The fox theorized that because of his massive chakra reserves allowed him to learn and use higher rank jutsu better than other techniques which required more chakra control.

"Are you okay?!" She quickly asked in a panicked voice.

"I'm here aren't I?" He flashed her a grin and looked back ahead. "Do you see anything?"

The Hyūga activated her Byakugan and frowned. "All I can see is blurry...sorry..."

"What is up with this forest? It seems like it's trying to screw with us." The blonde pointed out as he sped his way through, narrowly dodging tree branches. Hinata held on tightly and continued until she felt him stop.

"W...what's..."

"Shh!" Naruto quickly silenced her in obvious fear. The meek girl poked her head out and nearly peed herself once more. Over what? A monkey from Hell. The beast was looking straight at them with its rancid breath coming from its mouth every time it took breath. "Don't move..." He muttered with closed teeth as he continued to look into it's blood red eyes.

Nothing but the wind echoed throughout the trees as the duo continued to remain still and silent in front of the mighty animal. The monkey was the size of a gorilla with a more slender frame and teeth reminiscent to wolf with the exception of them being jagged. The beast made no moves except the slow, rhythmic patter of its breathing. It wasn't till Naruto blinked when the monkey lunged forward with the intent to kill.

The unpredictable action caused Naruto to lose his control on the chains as the three were now falling onto the branch bellow. It was good fortune that the branch wasn't too far below them but did still make them yell out their pain. The blonde ninja managed to get the monkey off with a push and jumped to his feet, kunai in hand and girl behind. "Come on you monkey...let me show you why we're evolved..." He cockily said with the thought of this battle being easy.

The monkey let out a howl as it darted towards the Uzumaki, with the speed of a Chūnin.

No amount of time could snap Naruto out of shock as the beast managed to get close-to-close with him and slash his chest. The jacket ripped and his mesh armor held. That didn't mean it didn't hurt like a son of a bitch though. Naruto gritted his teeth and threw his kunai at the face of the animal. The monkey simply dashed out of the way and bit onto his bad leg, reopening wounds that were just about to heal. "AHHH!" Naruto yelled out in anguish as he kicked the monkey off and knocked it against the tree. The strength he had to use to kick off such a creature made him pant roughly.

All the while Hinata could only watch as her savior was playing a deadly game against this ferocious monkey. She did not know any ranged jutsu nor did she have the strength to pull out a weapon, leaving her feel completely useless. "..." She couldn't even bring her mouth to speak, whether it be out of fear or lack of energy.

The demon monkey growled and once more echoed a long and loud howl of war. It snorted out air as it dashed again and narrowly dodged another kick from the teen. It dove in and latched its teeth deep into the Uzumaki's right arm. Never did a pain match to what he was feeling right now. He could feel the sharp and rough teeth pierce through his bone and exited out the other side. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" His scream echoed through the dense woods and continued for never ending miles. He quickly grabbed another kunai and made sure the beast stayed down with a well placed kunai in the forehead.

The animal somehow managed to scream out on last time despite having its teeth stuck in the poor teen's arm and slowly closed its eyes in blissful slumber. "F...fucking hell this hurts..." Naruto groaned as he could feel the teeth scraping the bone's inside.

"NARUTO!" Hinata screamed in terror as she saw her hero mangled in the jaws of the beast. She desperately tried to get up and and help but could only fall in pain.

"Don't! Just...just stay there. I'll get this out." He reassured her with a nervous smile which only made her worry grow even more. The ninja took a deep breath and yanked off the jaw of the fallen monkey. His previous screamed seemed like whispered compared to his next cry. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto could feel his final cry yell his body as his throat ached with the volume of such noise. He painfully looked at his arm. His entire arm was blood red with a wide open wound and his jacket sleeve torn off. He was about to call it quits when he saw a long piece of cloth tossed to him.

"U...Use my jacket to close it..." Hinata advised as she was missing the lower part of her jacket. She watched with a smile as it worked and closed the wound. She knew that it needed to be treated to first chance that came but it will hold them over for some time. Time that while hopefully be in their favor.

 **XxX**

It was certain that Naruto Uzumaki was not the one to just give up. Despite the exhaustion and blood loss, he managed to create even more chakra chains to carry him and Hinata around on the ground. They had decided to test their luck on ground since the branches caused so many injuries to both him and her. It felt like hours and both were feeling weak from hungry and from traveling without rest. But alas, they had found it, a nirvana hidden within this hellish nightmare. There in front of them sat Anko and Shizune over a fire with what seemed like mantis legs being roasted.

"Naruto/Hinata!" Both women yelled in happy surprise as they saw the duo with the medical nin then looking on with frozen fear of the state they were in.

"Can...can you patch us up Shizune...?" Naruto asked tiredly as he could feel himself about to fall over.

"Yes what happened?!" The woman asked instantly as she ran over and started to use her jutsu to heal the two.

"M...Monkey attacked...bit through my arm...she got her ankle twist..." Naruto groaned out as unconscious finally took over and he blacked out.

Anko for her part stayed silent as she watched the scenes unfold before gaining a smirk. "Sounds like he had to deal with monkey business."

Shizune gave her a death stare.

"What?"

 **To be continued...**


	2. Not Alone

**I own nothing from Naruto**

 **Hey. Here we are, 30 minutes left of Sunday but it's up. Sorry for late update but I will try to change that. Next update will be Wednesday and after that Saturday. Any reviews would nice and any constructive criticism will also be welcomed. Now enjoy.**

 **Genres: Adventure, Mystery, Horror, Romance**

 **To my friend, who never gave up on me finding a plot.**

* * *

 _"...to!"_

 _"Nar...!"_

 _"NARUTO!"_

The voices from what sounded like distant raindrops somehow made the blonde emerge from his painful slumber. His vision was starting to become clear, well as clear as he could see with what could be described as never-ending darkness. It really didn't help that the group had decided to set up camp near black trees and that the sky was covered most of the time.

"...who said that?" Was the first sentence to escape his mouth as he could not sense anyone near him. In fact, it looked like the group wasn't even here at all since all traces of their existence seemed to vanish. Naruto noticed this when he did not feel the cloth he was wrapped in from yesterday's injuries. Upon further studying, he found that all he had on was his ninja pants which were torn to hell and about 27% of his mesh armor. He had cuts and stab wounds in places he knew for a fact that he didn't get attacked in any of the areas.

"..." The ninja was too frightened to speak as he did not remember anything past or after falling unconscious. _"I know that I didn't get injured in my legs...or my chest either. What the hell is going on?"_ Most people would have not noticed what would sound like a feather dropping in these dense forest. But having enhanced senses, Naruto whipped his head to the left and got onto his feet. It was this that made him realize something else.

He could stand.

 _"This doesn't make any sense...I..I feel no pain, how?"_ The only thing Naruto felt was sleepiness but he disregarded that as the medical side effects of whatever Shizune had used on him. He nodded to himself and rushed in the direction of the mysterious sound. As he got closer, it seemed to have gotten quieter. Not only the noise, everything. His footsteps continued to get quieter and quieter that eventually he could no longer hear his movements. His breathing was deathly silent. He could not even hear himself think anymore.

Faster and faster he ran. The fear of being utterly alone gave him the push to try and get to the noise as fast as he possibly could. He even thought that he could maybe outrun the silence. As he continued to run, the blackened trees merged into one dark and cold blackness. The freezing temperature made his body ache and shiver from the eternal freezing. The longer he ran, the more he wondered, _"Is this death?"_

He ran for what could be considered days, not once getting closer to the noise. Naruto was starting to grow afraid and confused, breathing as if he was compacted in a tight space, and sweating profusely. It seemed like something else was inside the void with Naruto, Madness. The one thing that everyone, no, every creature tried to avoid like death. But, not everyone could escape its grasp. Naruto thought he would succumb to be another victim of the disease when he saw hope.

Dim and small, a light beamed over the horizon and somehow emitted the feeling of faith being given to the ninja. Even though his body wanted to stop and die, he pushed on with sounds of agony. The gashes, the stab wounds, the bruises, everything was starting come back to bite him in the ass a thousand fold. Yet, a peculiar thing happened, he didn't stop.

Something doesn't make sense.

And Naruto knew this but did not question it. Why should one wonder if it's aiding you? One should not question and go along with whatever is happening, Ninja Rule number one.

Number two, if in danger, get the hell out of there. Now Naruto wasn't in danger per say, but he felt as if he was. It wasn't long till he had reached the light that was actually a hole in some sort of wall. Naruto carefully touched around the hole and it was an actual hole in a wall. What the wall was, was unknown and not important to the young ninja as he was pulling himself through it without a second of hesitation. Naruto thought it would be a simple entrance, an easy way out.

He should really stop expecting these sort of fantasies.

The hole was not a mere hole after all but a tunnel. To Naruto, it was just a longer obstacle to overcome. He dragged his way across the odd feeling tunnel and felt as though he was getting somewhere. He could see the light grow brighter with every inch and in no time at all, he was out and able to see.

The one thing he did not expect to see was one of his worse nightmares come true.

His friends were dead...all except Hinata who was barely breathing somehow with a sword running through her lung. Anko's head had most of its flesh missing with her body nowhere in sight. Shizune was sliced in half down the middle with both sides falling apart. All of the faces the girls had was like they suffered a dreadful reality. The quiet breaths of Hinata stopped and the corpse slowly slid off the blade which was the cause of her death. "Been waiting for you...Naruto."

"No...why...?" The blonde fell down to his knees when he heard the voice. The one voice he did not want to hear. The one voice that gave him nightmares. The one voice which made his life hell. The one voice of Sasuke Uchiha.

"I got bored while waiting." The teen before him smirked and slowly began to waltz on over to the downed teen. "If only you could have shown up earlier." He sighed and shook his head. "Nah, what am I talking about? You were always late to everything Dead-last."

"W...why are you here?" A choked sob finally was able to come out of his mouth. "How can you...?"

"To obtain the Mangekyō." His answer made Naruto gasp and looked up to see the tip of the blade coming down on him. "See you later Dead-last."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Holy shit! That scared the fuck out of me!" A startled female's voice rang out to Naruto's ears.

"Anko?" Naruto asked carefully as this could be some illusion. Or what was worse, being stuck in the world of the dead.

"Yeah? What do you want?" She asked as she got up from her log seat and leaned down to check on him. "You've been out for a day...those thorns in your leg causes pretty messed up dreams. So asking if you slept well would be in poor taste so instead how about some meat?"

"Meat..." Naruto said dreamily as a new noise spoke with him, the rumble of his stomach.

"You got two options, mantis or monkey."

"...Is it that same monkey that attacked us yesterday?"

"The very same. Hinata told us where to find it after your encounter yesterday."

The blonde squinted his eyes. Normally he'd prefer ramen but he knew damn well there's not a single ramen stand in this goddamn forest. He might as well enjoy what it had to offer. "Monkey. I want to taste the victory over that bastard."

"Excellent choice. Revenge served cold it is."

"I don't want it..."

"Yeah I know just messing with ya Foxy." She gave him a wink and a serpent-like smirk.

"Foxy?" Naruto asked as he slowly pulled his was up into the sitting position. There was the pain he had not been missing as noted by his grunts.

"Don't like the nickname? Well...too bad I like and I'm keeping as your name." She continued to hold the grin all the way up to serving him monkey on a skewer. "Now enjoy some of Anko's Forest-made Monkey!"

"Thanks for the food." He said softly and started to tear into the meat.

"We should be thanking you since you killed the thing. Like, have you seen what you got me?" The question was off enough to pull the blonde away from the tough meat to look up at her. Gone was her regular trench coat and there was a coat entirely made out of fur, monkey fur. And in traditional Anko fashion, she let the coat open and wide. "You like it?"

"Not bad..." Was his fake reply as his real reply would have downgraded his character. Ever since the age of twelve, Naruto thought that Anko was a crazy snake lady and now at sixteen, he thought she was a _hot_ crazy snake lady. Sadly, contrary to popular belief, Naruto was an actual pervert like his sensei but he was at least able to hide it.

"That's it?" Anko pouted cutely at him. "No sexy? No hot? No drop-dead gorgeous?"

"...maybe that last one." He smirked as he thought she could not hear his answer under his breath.

"I heard that Foxy!" His eyes widen as she laughed. "You don't look bad yourself with your top gone!" True to her words, Naruto found himself shirtless with a few cuts and bruises. "How did you get that scar on your chest anyway?" She asked and would later regret.

Blonde locks covered his eyes as it was a touchy subject matter. "When I went after Sasuke...Chidori, right in the chest."

"Oh..." The woman looked down in shame. "Sorry to bring that up." She apologized to him.

"Don't worry about it...it stopped hurting after a month."

"It's alright...I know what it's like to be have scars." Her hand moved her coat a bit down to show the ninja her curse mark. "I hate this fucking thing." She said with venom as she looked directly at it.

"You have a curse mark too?" To Naruto this was a first but not really a shock to Anko. They only met once or twice so far.

"Yeah...apprentice to that bastard. I didn't know he was a traitor back then." The woman leaned forward to have her arms support her on her legs. "He said it was a training trip, nothing more than that. Five months later I was back in the Leaf and hated. Worse of all, no amount of scrubbing can get rid of this eyesore." She lazily eyed her seal.

"That's messed up. I'm sorry to hear that..." Naruto consoled her or at least tried to console her.

"Thanks Foxy, that really means a lot." The snake woman smiled across from him who gave her a smile of his own. "Truth be told, I think it's crap how those villagers treat ya."

"Thanks...I needed that." He sighed and took another bite off the meat.

"If it makes you feel any better, I can take out a few or scar them for life when we get back." Anko told him in a child-like demeanor.

"Uh...why?"

"We outcasts got to stick together right?"

"...Yeah you're right." Naruto replied and blinked when he saw her fist in front of him, staying still. He flashed his foxy grin and bumped her fist with his. A friendship was born. How long will it survive? Who knows. But there was one thing Naruto did want to know. "What did you do with the head?"

A finger pointing south showed that its head was impaled on a spike and made Naruto looked at her as if he was trapped by a psycho. "What? It keeps predators away and looks badass!"

 **XxX**

"This sucks..."

 **"Suck it up."** The giant fox told him as he was annoyed with his whining.

"Fine...what are we looking for again?"

 **"That woman said look for a clearing next to a river. Use some of your Shadow** **Doppelgängers do scout and rest."** It suggested.

"Yeah." The teen crossed his fingers and created about ten clones surrounding him. "Alright I want you guys to scout the area and poof out when you find something interesting." The main ordered and sat down when the group of blondes left. "Now that we're alone...can you tell me about the chains?"

 **"Oh yeah...that. Sure why not?"** The Kyūbi shrugged its fur-covered shoulders. **"Believe it not, you're one of the few people in your clan to do it."**

"It's...a clan technique?"

 **"Yeah. Only one I know to do it was your mother, my previous jailer."**

"You were in my mom?!" Naruto asked out in both horror and loudness.

 **"Rephrase that next time."**

"...I wanna punch you in the face."

 **"I know. But yes your mom was a** **jinchūriki before you. Runs in the family I guess."** The fox cackled to itself with a wide smirk.

Naruto was left stunned after hearing he had a clan and that he was special like his mother. "...What was she like?" He finally asked the beast within him.

 **"She had a temper...and was strong. She could beat the Fourth easily."**

"You're kidding..."

 **"I saw it happen with my own eyes. It was terrifying everytime."** Naruto could hear some shaking within his mind. **"But...she was one of the nicest people I ever knew and I've been around for a long time."**

"Thanks for telling me this but...why are you nicer all of a sudden?" The teen had noted that he and the fox weren't fighting as they normally would.

 **"I dunno...maybe you're not pissing me off is one?"**

"...That makes sense."

 **"Your damn right it does. Now let's forget about the past and focus on finding that clearing."**

"I've been doing that but they keep poofing out of existence either by animal or by fa...wait a sec I got something." The nin stood up with a smile. "There's a metal shack somewhere!"

 **"A metal shack?"** The beast asked. **"A metal shack?"**

"Rule one, just go with it." Naruto reminded and jumped off to the branches for faster travel.

 **"Your human laws are confusing as hell..."**

"But they work. Point for...OW SON OF A BITCH!"

 **"Point deduction. Should have watched that tree and by the way, we're here."**

"Huh? Oh sweet." Naruto got over his pain fast and looked ahead. The shack was exactly as he remembered. It was falling apart and rusting over but that did not matter. He needed to check it for supplies. Another good thing about this situation was that door was broken off and allowed easy access. Once in he was sadden to see that the shack was even smaller than his apartment. "Damn...thought there'd be more." He cursed aloud as all he could find was broken furniture.

 **"Look underneath everything. Could be more that you're not seeing."**

The blonde nodded and began to look once more and used his hands to clean the mess. He cautiously made sure not to get any splinters that could get him infected and end him just like that. Yeah wood was a very powerful and dangerous element. "Wait...I found a bag sweet!" Naruto laughed cheekily and unzipped it and was met with the disappointment of the bag being a clothes back. "Clothes? Seriously..."

 **"He you found something useful. The ladies are going to need some new clothes since the stuff you went through yesterday may be a common activity nowadays."** The fox explained with some amazement in finding the bag.

"I guess but I was hoping for something like a weapon." Naruto admitted sadly.

 **"A weapon? Why the sudden interest?"** It asked the container with a curious look and a raised brow.

"After nearly getting killed by a monkey, it made me realize something." Naruto said in a tone that reminded the fox of sadness with some anger and seriousness. "I need something to protect myself, protect the others. We ninja attack from the shadows and I don't think kunai will really work on those animals. Plus, we're going to need to hunt for food and I'm going need something to kill."

 **"Damn kid. I never thought I would hear you sound smart for once."**

"Screw you."

 **"Can't take a joke? Sigh...oh well. I don't think there's anything else here so let's head back."**

"Yeah you're right. The last guy just expelled its self."

 **"Found anything?"**

"He heard water."

 **"Close enough."**

 **XxX**

"Nice job Foxy!"

"Yeah thanks." Naruto replied with an exhale as they finally found the cause of the sound. Indeed it was a river and clearing rolled into one safe zone. The river ran along the side of the clearing with trees covering the farthest side of the water and covered about one third of the clearing. The other 67% was an empty grassy land which covered quite a bit of area. "Not a bad place..."

"Seems, calm. I say we make this a permanent place for the rest of the mission."

"I second that." Naruto agreed.

"Very well, as of this moment forward, this shall be our camp. Welcome to your temporary home!" Anko shouted in triumph and turned to the boy. "I need you to send a clone out to find Shizune and Hinata and bring them back. They should be around the old camping area."

"Got it." Naruto looked eyes with one of his Doppelgängers who groaned and walked off muttering several swear words. He had summoned a few when he met back up with Anko to help carry the supplies. "Why are we keeping the monkey's head?"

"Intimidation kid, intimidation." She replied with a grin as she remembered doing this plenty of times as a kid.

"I hate that monkey."

"You killed it and ate it, what else could you possibly want?" Anko asked him while turning towards him.

"I want to use it to kill for me...wait that's it!" Naruto smiled and went towards the Naruto which was carrying the head.

"Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. You fought a giant monkey, killed it and ate it, and now you want to use it for yourself to fight other monkeys?"

"Yeah." He called out as he reached into the mouth to remove the fangs.

"I'm so proud of you." Anko choked out with fake sobs and rubbing her hands across her eyes. "What are you gonna make anyways?"

"Spear."

"Oh! I have a few ideas!" The woman said with a squeal and ran off to help him with a devious blueprint in her head.

 **XxX**

 _"This is bad. I knew we would get lost and that means we would have someone sent out to look for us, like what we're trying to do. But then they'd get lost until all of Cloud is gone..."_

"Omoi! Stop thinking and pay attention!" A very loud voice caused the teen to get out of his thoughts.

"Karui...you're being too loud. You could attract animals and they could eat us." He told the angry redhead, making her even angrier.

"Cool it you two." The blonde woman before them sighed. "It'll be alright. All we need to do is find the missing team and get out."

"But Samui...they've been missing for three days and we've been here two days. We should have found them by now if you think about it." Omoi said as he was getting a lollipop from his pouch. _"I hope we find them soon...I'm running low..."_ _  
_

"That may be true but we also got word that other villages sent their own troops in here. The Raikage said to find and get any and all information from them." She said and pushed forward. "Now let's continue the operation you two."

Omoi sighed and walked beside Karui. "Is it just me or have we already been here?"

"Hell if I know! This place all looks the same to me!" The girl replied and cursed for the umpteenth time as she tripped on another set of large roots. "Ow!"

"Shush!" Samui suddenly shushed them as she felt a sudden presence in their area. The other two had pulled out their blades and readied to attack whatever it was.

"..." Samui had also drew out her blade and held it in a diagonal manner to cover herself from an attack, just in case.

Yellow. An odd color to see inside of a dark and gloom forest. It moved slightly showing a single azure blue eye. "Oh shi..."

The being didn't have enough time to speak as it was instantly turned to smoke from a kunai.

"A Doppelgänger?!" Karui asked in shock.

"It appears we're not alone..." Samui said in a whisper.

 **XxX**

 _"That's not good..."_ Naruto sighed as he recalled the memory of seeing a group of ninja in the forest who had instantly attack his clone.

"Something wrong?" Anko had risen her head up from their work.

"I'll tell you about it later. Is it done?"

"Just a knot and...done!"

"What's done?" The outcasts looked backwards to see Shizune and Hinata with looks of interest.

"This!" Naruto grabbed hold of their project and held it in the air. It was a spear with a unique design. The body was like any normal spear made out of wood but it was the blade that stood out. On the tip a jagged blade stood out with other blades made of teeth facing the four directions. Thankfully Anko had rope with her or none of the blades would have held their place.

"A spear?" Shizune asked with a tilting head.

"Gotta hunt right?" Naruto countered her question with his.

"I guess..." The raven-haired woman sighed in defeat. "Anyways...we found something interesting." She quickly remembered and pulled out something from her kimono. A piece of paper.

"Paper?" Both of them asked together.

"I...It's a diary entry. We found it near the camp." Hinata further told them as they all looked onto the paper.

* * *

 _June 3,_

 _We've have been stuck in this forest for two days and I'm close to going crazy! Suigetsu will not shut up and I feel like we're walking around in circles. But oh well, as long as I have him, it's worth it. This is going to be short since we're leaving in a minute. I hope we get out soon..._

* * *

"That's a day ago. I wonder if they're alive." Anko mused over with the group.

"One of my Doppelgängerssaw a group of people before one of them threw a kunai." Naruto stated.

"Oh no...other villages sent their shinobi to investigate." Shizune grew pale at the thought.

"So we aren't alone eh? Things may have started to get exciting." Anko smirked and gazed out into the forest.

 **"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

"What...the fuck...was that?" Naruto asked with his eyes out and nearly popping out of his head.

"That...I do not know." Shizune answered with her eyes almost like his.

"That's a human. What made it scream...I do not know." Anko answered coldly. "All I know is that we need to get the hell out of here."

 **To be continued...**


End file.
